Detailing Photography: How do you photography under halogens?

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Paulie Walnuts

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Being that business is picking up I have been thinking about building a webpage. The last three details I did I photographed the progress of the process but the pictures under the halogens turned out really bad. I have a Nikon D50, how do I get better shots under the bright lights? I also tried to photograph some headlight restoration and that worked crappy too.



Thanks!!
 
1st tip I can offer you - DON'T EVER SHOOT IN AUTO!!



2nd tip - Read a book called Understanding Exposure... quick read and it'll change the way you take pics with a DSLR forever IMO. Just learning to use the metering feature in your camera will make a HUGE difference.
 
Dylan06SS said:
1st tip I can offer you - DON'T EVER SHOOT IN AUTO!!



2nd tip - Read a book called Understanding Exposure... quick read and it'll change the way you take pics with a DSLR forever IMO. Just learning to use the metering feature in your camera will make a HUGE difference.
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Excellent Smithers!
 
I always just use auto, its easy.



Point the hologens at the paint about 3-5 feet away.



Set the camera on a tripod and set that the same distance away as the hologens.



Turn off the flash, zoom all the way out, dont zoom in, take the pic.
 
One of the things the BMW dealer's son taught me was using the timed automatic shoot (I think mine's 10 seconds). Prior to using that feature, my finger pushing the shoot button would jiggle the camera.



So, turn off flash, set self-timer while camera is on tripod and it will record nice clear pictures.



Like this with just flourescent lighting



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Toto
 
There're a few things I would like to highlight:



1. Use a tripod since you're shooting with ambient light, in this case, a halogen light.

2. Perform exposure bracketing. Exposure could be tricky when you're shooting highly reflective surface. The prescence of your halogen light in your picture might fool your camera's metering system.

3. Shoot in RAW format.

4. If you can't shoot with a tripod, make sure your shutter speed is suitable for handheld shooting, that varies with the focal length you're shooting with.
 
jsatek said:
Thats a good trick, so the camera will take the shot AFTER your shaky hands are away from the camera.



I have to try that.
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Yepper's. My camera has a 10 second delay which allows for some last second adjustment of the tripod, etc.



In low light, just the pressure of your finger on the button can create a fuzzy pic, so this works well.



Toto
 
I'm still surprised at how many digitals *don't* have a remote shutter release of some sort. The timer works for a lot of stuff, but I'd like to (for example) set up my tripod pointing at the bird feeder on our balcony in winter-time, then just snap shots with a remote release as I see birds and squirrels show up to feed. Some higher-end cameras have a remote control for that, but how hard is it to thread the shutter release button for a standard cable release that even cheap film SLRs have had forever?



Sorry, pre-caffeinated rant over.



Tort
 
A tripod is worth every penny. If the only thing you are going to be using it for is to shoot your work, just pick up one from walmart.



As others have mentioned, don't just shoot auto. Your camera probably has an Av and Tv mode. That's "Aperture Value" and "Time Value". As long as you have a tripod don't worry much about the time but play with different aperture settings.



Your shooting digital, so it doesn't cost you anything to take more photos. So play around with it.
 
TortoiseAWD said:
I'm still surprised at how many digitals *don't* have a remote shutter release of some sort. The timer works for a lot of stuff, but I'd like to (for example) set up my tripod pointing at the bird feeder on our balcony in winter-time, then just snap shots with a remote release as I see birds and squirrels show up to feed. Some higher-end cameras have a remote control for that, but how hard is it to thread the shutter release button for a standard cable release that even cheap film SLRs have had forever?



Sorry, pre-caffeinated rant over.



Tort
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That would be very cool. I dont really know how to use the camera. It was a Christmas gift from my wife two years ago. I just wanted something I could snap fast pictures with.
 
Coupe said:
Everyone says to not use auto, its all i use and my pics come out just as good as everyone elses do.
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Great to hear that. Do you mind to share your work here?
 
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